GAME REPORT

Hapoel Jerusalem Pull Away With Second-Half Surge

Hapoel Jerusalem held off a determined Belgacom Liege on Tuesday evening to claim a spot in the Eurocup.

Brian Randle led the scoring parade with 16 points and Jason Rich had 15 as the Israeli club posted an 84-73 victory for a 14-point win on aggregate.

The Belgians fought hard and only trailed 41-38 with 27 seconds left in the first half.

Hapoel's Will Solomon scored on drives either side of half-time to ignite a 10-run that put the home side in command.

Solomon also passed to Randle for a dunk on a fast break in the spurt.

Hapoel stretched their lead in the contest to 15 in the third and extended it to 20 in the fourth quarter before settling for an 11-point triumph on the night.

Belgacom hurt their own cause by making just 13 of 25 (52%) attempts at the free-throw line.

Uri Kokia scored just two points for the winners but finished with 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Belgacom's Guy Muya scored 11 points and had a game-high four steals in defeat.

COACH QUOTES

Quotes Hapoel Jerusalem vs. Belgacom Liege

Hapoel Jerusalem head coach Oded Kattash

It was an exciting game, just like the first one. It was just as I expected it. I think we won thanks to our defense, in both games. We found the players that won the game, I'm very satisfied. We built our team to be a good defensive team.

Hapoel Jerusalem player Brian RandleOur game plan was to jump on them early, we had a nice lead all the game. We had a big focus on defense, and we have a lot weapons on offence. The atmosphere here is like in college, I think our team like to play with energy and it fit to the crowd. Now we will take it step by step.

Belgacom Liege head coach Dario GjergiaI think we played very solid in the first half, we came back after a bad start. Against a team like Jerusalem you have to rebound well and to control your offence. In the second half they got confidence. Our biggest problem is from the free throw line. Im happy that we had 19 assists.

Belgacom Liege player Guy MuyaWe made some bad decisions and Jerusalem used it to fastbreak. We fought to the end, and that's how we are going to play all year. Hapoel is very athletic and its very hard on offence, they switch after every pick and it was hard. Hapoel can do different things on both sides.